Sunday, 22 September 2013

Money Mayweather Cashes In

The highly anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez took place last weekend at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Showtime Networks announced this past Thursday that the mega-fight generated over $150 million in pay-per-view revenue with 2.2 million purchases which broke the previous record also held by Mayweather for his $136 million fight with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

Mayweather himself received a guaranteed payout of $41.5 million for the fight, but the money trail does not end there. Estimates suggest he may very well earn over $80 million for the fight because he also receives reimbursements for each PPV sale that somebody buys. While he is recuperating from his dominating win over Canelo last weekend, Mayweather is taking off some time to relax on vacation before his next fight in May. The opponent is still to be determined.

Some critics have suggested boxing is a dying sport. But big payout days like these suggest that boxing is a sport still highly demanded by consumers. Mayweather is one who attributes his success to boxing as he recently flaunted a receipt from his one bank account in an interview with ESPN – showing that he had over $123 million in cash. Whatever the case, Mayweather is poised to make even more money as he has already signed a 6-fight contract with Showtime which estimates suggest he may grow his net worth another $250 million. Boxing certainly has treated Mayweather well and is here to stay as long as he and other big names are still around.